Geoff Turk put up the first seven second pass in Stock Eliminator last night with his Blackbird, a 7.975 at 170.94 MPH. Holley is putting up a bonus for the first seven in competition totaling $10K if the car is equipped with the Holley EFI so Geoff is one step ahead of the competition. The power comes from BES with chassis by MR2 and transmission by Coan Engineering. DSR has also been a big help to the program with Leah Pritchett set to drive that team’s car once the fresh engine is installed later today. JR1 Oil has also been a big part of Turk’s program. “I was paired up with David Barton last night, he stood it up earlier and I thought this is gonna’ be good, thought it might be side by side sevens because he might have that in it but the staff said I had a leak and let Barton run a single. They let me go next and I knew it was doing pretty good early but once it was humming down through there I knew it was a good time slip, but wasn’t expecting that good. Thanks to SRT Engineering and DSR Racing for all the help this weekend without my crew here, Dale Aldo the man behind the curtain who really championed behind the scenes to get this program to come together ” Geoff Turk Geoff’s wife Sandy is fighting some health issues and not able to be here this weekend but encouraged him to come and race and will be rooting for him while watching the Speed Video live feed back home.

Manhattan Beach, California’s Eric Gustafson is stepping up for 2018 with his new Pro Mod featuring a Procharged Brad Anderson Hemi tuned by Jason Lee and Patrick Barnhill from PTP, which is an instrumental part of the team. The car was purchased as a roller with main assembly and some modifications by Gary Naughten Race Cars, the car was then wired up by Steve Summers before being sent to Larry Jeffers for paint and body work and some other final modifications. The family company Coast Packing is the main sponsor of the program with PTP Racing and Procharger main ingredients in Gustafson’s racing program. Eric is a two time NMCA Street Outlaw Champion though the Mustang is not quite completed for this season yet but will be competing later this year. “The Street Outlaw class has progressed considerably since we raced two years ago running mid 4.40’s… now guys are going high 4.20’s and .30s and we are looking forward to being at the top of the pack with the rest of the great racers in that class as well,” says Gustafson. “We started testing with this car a few weeks ago and and it’s a whole different feel driving a car like that, I made my first full passes in the car yesterday running a 3.95 and a 3.91 at 190.”

Stanley & Weiss Racing are planning to run the full NMCA season for 2018 with John Stanley behind the wheel and Camp tuning as usual. The team is slowing down their schedule this year with plan to run the NMCA, The Shakedown at Norwalk and perhaps a few other select Pro Mod events. The car has quite a few changes to run NMCA rather than Pro Extreme with less overdrive, some changes to the electronics, and a heavier minimum weight. Camp called it, a “ whole different combination.” Definitely a team to watch for 2018.

Kiscus/Klugger Racing is in the house ready to defend Josh Klugger’s 2017 Radial Wars Championship. Kevin Fiscus will be shaking the car down today with Josh back behind the wheel for Saturday’s qualifying. We caught up with the team swapping over from the Pro 275 trim, fresh of their win at Light Out 9 with Kevin Fiscus and Josh Ledford under the car.

2003 and 2005 Xtreme Street Champion Tony Orts is back racing NMCA after a seven year absence. He has a new small block Chevy combo from Precision Engine Rebuilders topped with All Pro Heads and intake backed by a three speed TH 400 transmissions. Ort’s is running a plate nitrous system this weekend while awaiting a new fogger system. The Orts spent the off time working and raising the family as well as two family vacations to Spain, where his father is from originally. Tony and Rocket Ron shown from left to right.

James Lawrence put up a 3.86 while testing on Wednesday in the Radial vs the World trim he ran at the US Street Nationals, then put the weight in for Radial Wars class on Thursday and scored a 3.90, right on the class record. The 3.86 is the quickest centrifugal blower pass in the world, the combo is a Procharger F3R 136 feeding a PLR Hemi.

Mickey Thompson Radial Wars number one qualifier so far is Dewayne Mills running a 3.908 at 06 MPH. Jamie and Tim set the car up for a safe run after making the swap to NMCA trim and a fresh set of Precision Turbo GenII 88’s and a new Pro Torque unit to kick of the 2018 season. “With Jamie Miller at the keyboard and Tim taking care of the car and Josh Watson letting Tim chew on him a little bit for something I’m sure.. we’re out here having a good time and working hard looking for wins.” – DeWayne Mills

Marty Stinnett lost the end of a pushrod on his test pass requiting a quick fix before round one qualifying replacing the pushrod and a the broken rocker and shaft assembly for that cylinder. The made the call running a 3.99 to land fourth in the five car Radial Wars field. The team discovered a boost leak after going over the data with the after pass check of the valve train looking good they should be good to go and looking to improve on the .99 next session. From left to right, Fred Pittman, Justin Reed and engine builder Jeff Burns.

John Lastinger suffered severe tire shake during ARP Nitrous Pro Street qualifying.

We spoke with Mike Demayo earlier in the day and he was predicting good things for the EIC powered ICE ignition fired NA 10.5 Mustang. He was right and sits number one with a 7.79 at 174 MPH.

Daniel Pharris is just ahead of Charlie Cooper in Vortech Superchargers Street Outlaw with a 4.369 at 172. Cooper put up a 4.37.9 for his effort.

Randy Adler earned top position in VP Fuels Pro Mod for Friday s session scoring a 3.73 at 206..

Slone Boys Racing are setting good at eighth with a 3.84 at 199, Jackie’s best run to date in the car. The team tested some on Thursday with their new 959 Musi engine with good results but ruined a ring and pinion. They put a spare in for qualifying but it was a different ratio and have new set on order for tomorrow. They will be looking for high 3.70’s in come time for eliminations either with power management with the new bullet or a gear change or whatever it takes for La Fontaine Performance Center sponsored team.

John Stanley had some repairs after his run this afternoon. we caught up with the team just wrapping up re assembling the blower . He landed ninth with a 3.86 but was down a hole early on his attempt.

Pete Gasko Jr races the 2016 #32 COPO in 2018 trim this year running the Supercharged 350 ci combo after finishing second in the Factory Stock Showdown NHRA points for 2017 in just his first full year drag racing in the series. Gasko runs the Gasko Family Farms Camaro out of Ray Barton Racing camp and is here this weekend in his first NMCA event, while the team plans a full season with NHRA we can look forward to several more years of Team Gasko after such good performance so far. Gasko is just 20 years old and went from a twelve second street car into the COPO and has been racing now for three years. Pete Gasko Sr and his brother are partners in the car and raced the car at Englishtown and met a local racer Jerry who helped them with the car and introduced the Gaskos to Dave Barton. Pete Jr put his name on the list for a car at 14 years old, with his father saying, “Yeah w’ell buy it, cause I figured he’d never get picked, and then all of a sudden he’s a Sr. in High School, I get a text one day in February, ‘Dad we got the car’, I’m like what car?? Tuns out we got a COPO, I get home and at first I was no. So my wife says ‘look you never buy anything for yourself and if you want the race car buy the race car’ so we bought a race car and ere we are”. Pete Gasko Sr. From left to right, Jerry, Pete Jr and Pete Sr.